I was camped a couple of yards away from the others, because I found it to be a nicer spot on a flat surface. Feeling fit early on, I had my gear packed up around 0600, ready to start the day. But not before leaving Jimmy, or now known by his trailname “Pops”, a birthday message on my former camping-spot.
The hiking this morning went well, legs were feeling good, but since we were at pretty low elevation, it got warm fast again. I stopped briefly at a spring which was swarming with bees. Not the most comfortable situation, holding your water bottle underneath the tauntingly slow flowing piped spring, with curious bees landing on my bare skin and buzzing around my head. I kept telling myself, “If you relax, there’s no reason for them to sting”. And they didn’t. But it was a quite the test of composure and patience…
Since I hiked out alone and before the others, upon reaching the highest point of today’s section, I took a long break. A little ways off trail I found a tree, providing a nice shaded spot on a gentle sloping hilltop that had the most insane view. I was thrilled to spend an hour there, enjoying my avocado tortilla and admiring the panoramic vista. I was joined by the others later and they were equally excited about the magnificent beauty surrounding us
After this intermezzo it was downhill towards the fire-station. At the fire-station we would indeed try to order pizza today. Everybody was crazy excited! There were another 6 miles or so left, and I put on a fast pace determined to have an extra long break in the shade. Around 1230 everybody had gotten in, and the pizza-delivery guy showed up with 3 extra large pizza’s, a case of beer with ice and a gigantic bottle of soda. The four of us celebrated Jimmy’s birthday in true thru-hiker style. Sweaty, covered in dirt, on the ground, surrounded by mountains and unbelievably happy with our pizza and cold drinks. Everybody was so happy to have non-trail-food on trail for lunch for a change, it was amazing!
Of course we all stuffed our faces, and after such a heavy meal we all inevitably crashed into instant hibernation-mode. It was nice to listen to some music while dozing off in the shade. Around 1600 we finally got ready to hike out again. We aimed to get another 6 miles in, putting at a total of 18 for the day. A leisure-distance, fitting the birthday celebration. With a full belly, the hike up the hill in the still burning afternoon sun was no pleasure however. The first hour I felt so bloated, I didn’t think I would make it up the hill. But steady does it, and as the amount of miles to the campsite grew smaller, so did my stomach ache.
The designated campsite was not really to my liking; too many slanted spots. There were 3 other hikers who intended to push a little further (4 miles) to the next campsite. I decided to tag along with them. The now semi digested pizza had given me some extra energy; I was feeling pretty good again. As we hiked on through the dusk, we got to witness the most amazing sunset, and all of us were happy. The four of us just had dinner together, and were all glad that we put in the extra effort to get to some more suitable campsites a litter further up trail.
Everybody’s praying
And everybody’s saying
But when when come time to do
Everybody’s laying
Just talking about don’t worry, worry, worry, worry
They say don’t worry, worry, worry, worry
They say don’t worry, worry, worry, worry They say don’t worry, worry, worry, worry
They say don’t worry, worry, worry, worry
Don’t worry – Curtis Mayfield
